Synergistic Optimization of the Mechanical and Electrical Properties of High Voltage Impact Polypropylene Copolymer Cable Insulation Materials Based on Ethylene Copolymerization
Dong Xinhua1, Wang Wei1, Yuan Hao2, Li Qi3, He Jinliang3
1. State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources North China Electric Power University Beijing 102206 China; 2. SINOPEC (Beijing) Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co. Ltd Beijing 100013 China; 3. State Key Laboratory of Power System Operation and Control Department of Electrical Engineering Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China
Abstract:Polypropylene (PP) has become one of the focus of research and development for recyclable polymer dielectric materials because of its excellent electrical and thermal properties. However, pure polypropylene has poor mechanical properties, including high elastic modulus and low-temperature brittleness, which significantly limits its application scenarios and makes it difficult to use directly as an insulation material for cables. Impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC) has excellent mechanical properties and is an ideal insulation material for high voltage polypropylene cables. The ethylene content has an important effect on the performance of IPC, but there are no reports on the impact of IPC elastic modulus on comprehensive insulation performance, such as mechanical and electrical, and its mechanism. This article characterizes the microstructure, mechanical, and electrical properties of IPC with different ethylene contents, and reveals the mechanism of the effect of ethylene copolymerization content on the internal component compatibility and charge transport of IPC. The results indicate that the rubber phase and PP matrix present a “sea island structure”. With the further increase in ethylene content, the rubber phase and PP matrix are interpenetrating in distribution, the crystallinity decreases significantly, the number of spherulites increases significantly, and the crystal size decreases significantly. With the increase in ethylene content, the compatibility between PP matrix and rubber phase gradually increases, and the IPC-2 sample has the highest elongation at break. Additionally, with the increase of ethylene content, the breakdown strength and volume resistivity show a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. Among them, IPC-2 sample has the best electrical properties. At a tensile strain of 10%, the IPC-2 sample still exhibits the best insulation performance. The ethylene copolymerization mainly improves the compatibility between the PP matrix and the rubber phase, and generates a large number of crystalline-amorphous interfaces in the PP matrix, which improves the impact resistance while introducing a large number of deep traps and reduces the carrier mobility. Considering the mechanical and electrical properties of IPC with different modulus, IPC-2 sample is the optimal insulation material for high voltage cables. This study provides a valuable reference for the development of high- performance PP insulation materials.
董新华, 王伟, 袁浩, 李琦, 何金良. 基于乙烯共聚的高压抗冲共聚聚丙烯电缆绝缘材料机械和电气性能的协同优化[J]. 电工技术学报, 2025, 40(23): 7763-7775.
Dong Xinhua, Wang Wei, Yuan Hao, Li Qi, He Jinliang. Synergistic Optimization of the Mechanical and Electrical Properties of High Voltage Impact Polypropylene Copolymer Cable Insulation Materials Based on Ethylene Copolymerization. Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society, 2025, 40(23): 7763-7775.
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